5 Tips for Giving Better Bookish Gifts
Every holiday season for the last 10 years, my Book Riot Podcast co-host Jeff O’Neal and I have answered listener requests for holiday gift book recommendations. It’s fun, challenging, and a good chance to get creative with picks people might not find on their own, and I’ve noticed a few patterns that pop up year after year in how folks approach looking for books to gift to their loved ones. If you’re shopping for bookish gifts this year, here are a few tips borne out of a decade’s worth of playing personal shopper.
1. Ask Yourself: Does This Person Actually Want Books?
Is your intended gift recipient a reader, or do you just wish they were? If they are a reader, you’re good to go. If they aren’t much of a reader, but they’ve asked you to help them get into it, roll on! But if you’re trying to buy books for someone who isn’t likely to read them…you’ve got some more work to do here, friend.
Now, I’m going to assume your desire to foist books on someone who isn’t bookish is coming from a good place. Books mean a lot to you, and you want to share that joy with someone you love. I get that. But a key to giving good gifts is really seeing the giftee, so when you give books to a non-reader because you wish they wanted to read (or worse, because you think they should read), you’re really giving them an obligation. Nobody wants to unwrap a guilt trip.
2. Leave Your Judgments at the Door.
Once you’ve determined that books are an appropriate gift for the person you have in mind, it’s time to make some decisions. The belief that there’s no such thing as a “real reader” has been core to the Book Riot ethos since day one, and I encourage you to take it into your heart. Think about the kinds of books your giftee enjoys, and set out to surprise and delight them. Put aside any judgments you might have about their choices in genre, subject matter, or format. This is about giving them a treat, not converting them to your personal favorites or molding them into your image of a Good Reader. If you aren’t familiar enough with books that land in their wheelhouse, that’s what booksellers, podcast hosts, and Al Gore’s internet are for.
3. Check the Vibes.
One big thing that still distinguishes human recommendations from AI or an algorithm’s “readers also bought”-style list is that humans have the ability to get beyond the synopses and buzzwords to understand what it feels like to read a particular book. Don’t look at your friend’s World War II novel about lady librarian spies and assume you should buy her 7 (or 70, those things are everywhere) more. Instead, ask, “What did you love about it?”
Maybe the person who adored Gone Girl doesn’t need a pile of dark and twisty revenge thrillers but some spiky feminist narratives from a variety of genres. Maybe your dad is less interested in another presidential biography than in true stories about people with larger-than-life ambition. And maybe the kid who loves that series set at a wizarding school is actually looking for stories about found family, not more magical boarding school books. Books are about so much more than what happens. This is something I think we know intuitively about our own reading experiences but tend to forget when we’re picking out books for someone else.
4. Consider a zag to swag.
Let’s be real, there are some people you shouldn’t even try to buy books for. Either they have super-specific taste or they’ve read everything or (the horror!) both, but you still want to find a gift that celebrates the book nerd-ness that is core to their identity. This is where all the goodies I classify as “Yay books!” come in. You can keep it general with a bookish candle, tote bag, coffee mug, or reading journal, or zoom in and look for gifts related to their favorite genre or even an author, series, or quote they love. Etsy is a treasure trove of items for idiosyncratic interests, and you’ll probably be surprised by what’s available for your loved one’s chosen fandom. If you don’t know where to start, Book Riot has a whole category of posts devoted to bookish stuff. And what if you’ve got a giftee who doesn’t want any more tchotchkes?
5. Give the gift of an experience.
There are so many directions you can go with this one. Take your giftee out to dinner and a reading/book signing by an author they love. Schedule them a private shopping appointment at a local indie bookstore. Make a movie date to see a hot new adaptation, or invite them over for a snack-filled Netflix marathon of a book-inspired series. Maybe there’s a ballet or opera based on a book they’re into. Go bigger and plan a road trip themed around some of their favorites, or really get wild and take them on a literary pilgrimage. As poet Nick Laird says, “Time is how you spend your love.” When you turn your shared love of reading into a shared memory, you give a gift will last a lot longer than even the chunkiest of tomes.
Whatever and whoever you’re celebrating this season, I hope it is filled with light, good snacks, and the kind of book that makes the rest of the world disappear.
I’d love to hear from you, readers, what are your best tips for bookish gifting and/or the best bookish gifts you’ve given and received?
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